Spoilers abound but since you're probably never going to have an opportunity to watch this masterpiece this is less of a concern than is the usual.
Animal movies made in the states are occasionally strong and well done. Those made primarily for a youth audience are not infrequently bland or cliche filled.
Then there's the four story "A Dog's Life" directed and written by Taiwanese filmmaker Chang Yi with four powerful segments about how dogs are brutalized by the world and mistreated by humans, frequently the humans they love.
This is an animated film with
three or four different styles of animation . I've seen complaints that the work is not up to the quality of PIXAR. Truth is that animation should set the mood of a piece. Here it does that and more each time. In the first story the detail and realism are the best I've seen in CGI. In all the stories the expressions on the animals' faces and movements of their bodies would be familiar to people who know the canine world. The atmosphere of each episode is of low key oncoming dread.
The initial piece, " Lost In The Rain " aka " Lost and Found " , showcases how fragile city life is for a puppy and if assistance is to be given it is essential to seize the moment. The animation style is Pixar like at times which is effective in presenting danger in the disguise of pleasing quality.
Lost and Found ( ironic title ) started as an adobe flash only release with simple animation and the title Black Bum. The 25 minute short as rarely shown in animated shorts screenings.
The original idea was to produce four shorts about the adventures of the puppy but that was changed to a four part feature about four different dogs. T First segment is a CGI 20 minute slight revision version of Black Bum in which a story of a young boy who first teases then later plays with a puppy on the rain swept streets of a business center of a metropolis only to desert him then go home and later tries to find him again but the dog has been found by someone else and at least has a home . This is a slightly different ending than the first Black Bum short but that story was expected to have three more parts. Bittersweet but the dogs in the other three segments have it worse.
" One Eyed Tiger " has a muted style that works well with the darkness of mood and violence of the piece. Dog loving man rescues injured old but none too friendly large dog who does not get along with the man's other dogs. Chaos ensues which ends in a fight between dogs which ends in Tiger being housed at the man's place of business. When Tiger escapes and returns home the dogs again fight which causes the man to put a choke hold on the old, injured, one eyed stray who was made violent by long term indifference of humans to animals and especially large strays. The good hearted man has to return the animal close to the area he first found him. One eyed Tiger is last seen dropping his head and looking wet and miserable outside the man's factory.
" Old Lady " has a flat style that befits the story of an old man who only at the end of an old animal's life appreciates the love that has always been there. Story is told in flashbacks and ultimately ends in tears. The expression on the old man's face as he lies in bed in the last shot after he has lost first his wife who loved the little dog and now the animal ass well is one of anguish as he is now alone with only his grief.
"Revenge " aka, " A Change of Heart ", is done is a simple , basic style but the wallop it packs will knock animal lovers backwards big time. A woman's very friendly pet succeeds in convincing her to take in an abandoned in a box adorable terribly frightened , tiny puppy. The small dog becomes very friendly with the woman's pet but soon upsets the household and causes her injury which frustrates her and causes her to mindlessly throw the dog into a room and isolate him, the animal dies of the injuries inflicted by the violent action. The segment title foretell the ultimate horror. My thoughts returned to the apprehensive expression on the pup's face when he was initially discovered in a box in the snow surrounded by a group of people. Woman and her pet are heartbroken at film's end. Puppy is dead.
The story ends with the woman and pet at the dog's grave with cherry blossom trees in full bloom as the camera slowly pans to the sky above.
Chang Yi's direction/scripting in every episode is faultless which makes the misery of the stories all the more powerful and heart - wrenching. Not a word of dialogue and none's needed .
The saddest film I've ever seen and I've been a film fan since the early 50's.
Film was shown in at least three Asian film festivals but even the prestige of Chang Yi and high quality of the production failed to garner a first place finish anywhere. Even Lost in the Rain which was shown in animated short film festivals did not win any awards. The general public did not care for the film thinking the animation was below par and the tragic subject matter not to its taste. ADL should have swept the awards maybe then it would have had a different future.
Feature apparently did not find a distributor so had only a limited theater release in Taiwan in April, 2019 . Don't know if it was even streamed anywhere .The small animation company that made the film, A - HHA studios, went out of business , just when is a mystery , and Chang Yi ,after having returned to film making after a twenty years absence, went back to the production of art glass and soon died of cancer.
The drain on time, effort and resources that went into the production was monumental for a - hha according to an inside report. The only full length film to come from the company.. Not a word on the net about the company's closure ,could have been due to the film's financial failure. Do not know who has the rights to the various incarnations of the project. It and Black Bum ( 2005 ) The Monk's Dog and another canine war short produced by Liuli Gongfang studios which later became a - hha studios are all lost films IMO.
I was initially shocked to find that every story is a disaster for the animal in focus. This is hardly entertainment, What the dogs encounter is danger, loneliness, cruelty,being misunderstood ,sickness, injury, neglect,anger,indifference,jealously,misery , disappointment and violence.
Truly this is a hard world and animals get the worst of it.
After some investigation I discovered a reference to a - hha studios incorporation of Buddhist teachings into the first Black Bum short which is namely learn something from bad experiences and move on ...a philosophy which I view as vile.
I suspect the reason the four stories have the endings they do is due to Chang Yi's idea to present the thought that the beneficent Buddha gives people a chance for happiness ...but here their actions fell short of what they should have been and consequently they and the animals suffered. The idea being do good in life and remember the good times. This is a mental construct that is alien to me.
The expression " A dog's life " means a bad life and that to me is the ironic real message of the title. There is a Buddhist, " get on with life" subtext to this film that fills me with disgust.
That being true it is a reality that a softer touch to the stories would have made the production much less significant and powerful.
The documentary Twelve Nights ( 2013 )showed things as they are for real stray dogs and was cause for a massive change in how the Taiwanese government treated unwanted animals. Many dogs died , mostly of shelter born illnesses,and the audience was able to get to know dozens of the animals but this animation hurts me even more as I can see the change from joy to horror in each of the canines in the animations. I can understand the emotions and thoughts of the dogs at every step of the stories. Still my favorite film for its ability to immerse me in the animals' plight.
The financial failure of the film causing the bankruptcy of a - hha studios and Yi Chang's demise on the heels of these disasters can be seen as a telling reflection on the absurdity of Buddhist thought. The film deals with " unsatisfactory enlightenment " and the impermanence of life. What that really means is eat dirt,.. see the bad times as learning opportunities and view heart breaking losses as just the way things are ...so buck up and be the best you can be in the future, be practical , don't daydream and most of all don't dwell on the past.
A Western priest might say you've got to play the hand you've been dealt. All of this is patent nonsense but ironically I know from the thousands of metaphysical experiences that have filled the second half of my life that there is a controlling force in the universe and it is not benevolent.
This project is so different from anything else of feature film length and so intimately focused on the relationship between living creatures that it should be revered , not thrown away. But that's people and that's life. More's the pity.
If anyone can get a copy of this film and/or the simply animated short Black Bum ( 2005 ) or The monk's Dog or another war/dog film ( name unknown ) made by the Liuli studio to me on disc I would compensate handsomely. Stephen DeMay 1061 Neck Lane Elizabeth New Jersey 07201.
Animal movies made in the states are occasionally strong and well done. Those made primarily for a youth audience are not infrequently bland or cliche filled.
Then there's the four story "A Dog's Life" directed and written by Taiwanese filmmaker Chang Yi with four powerful segments about how dogs are brutalized by the world and mistreated by humans, frequently the humans they love.
This is an animated film with
three or four different styles of animation . I've seen complaints that the work is not up to the quality of PIXAR. Truth is that animation should set the mood of a piece. Here it does that and more each time. In the first story the detail and realism are the best I've seen in CGI. In all the stories the expressions on the animals' faces and movements of their bodies would be familiar to people who know the canine world. The atmosphere of each episode is of low key oncoming dread.
The initial piece, " Lost In The Rain " aka " Lost and Found " , showcases how fragile city life is for a puppy and if assistance is to be given it is essential to seize the moment. The animation style is Pixar like at times which is effective in presenting danger in the disguise of pleasing quality.
Lost and Found ( ironic title ) started as an adobe flash only release with simple animation and the title Black Bum. The 25 minute short as rarely shown in animated shorts screenings.
The original idea was to produce four shorts about the adventures of the puppy but that was changed to a four part feature about four different dogs. T First segment is a CGI 20 minute slight revision version of Black Bum in which a story of a young boy who first teases then later plays with a puppy on the rain swept streets of a business center of a metropolis only to desert him then go home and later tries to find him again but the dog has been found by someone else and at least has a home . This is a slightly different ending than the first Black Bum short but that story was expected to have three more parts. Bittersweet but the dogs in the other three segments have it worse.
" One Eyed Tiger " has a muted style that works well with the darkness of mood and violence of the piece. Dog loving man rescues injured old but none too friendly large dog who does not get along with the man's other dogs. Chaos ensues which ends in a fight between dogs which ends in Tiger being housed at the man's place of business. When Tiger escapes and returns home the dogs again fight which causes the man to put a choke hold on the old, injured, one eyed stray who was made violent by long term indifference of humans to animals and especially large strays. The good hearted man has to return the animal close to the area he first found him. One eyed Tiger is last seen dropping his head and looking wet and miserable outside the man's factory.
" Old Lady " has a flat style that befits the story of an old man who only at the end of an old animal's life appreciates the love that has always been there. Story is told in flashbacks and ultimately ends in tears. The expression on the old man's face as he lies in bed in the last shot after he has lost first his wife who loved the little dog and now the animal ass well is one of anguish as he is now alone with only his grief.
"Revenge " aka, " A Change of Heart ", is done is a simple , basic style but the wallop it packs will knock animal lovers backwards big time. A woman's very friendly pet succeeds in convincing her to take in an abandoned in a box adorable terribly frightened , tiny puppy. The small dog becomes very friendly with the woman's pet but soon upsets the household and causes her injury which frustrates her and causes her to mindlessly throw the dog into a room and isolate him, the animal dies of the injuries inflicted by the violent action. The segment title foretell the ultimate horror. My thoughts returned to the apprehensive expression on the pup's face when he was initially discovered in a box in the snow surrounded by a group of people. Woman and her pet are heartbroken at film's end. Puppy is dead.
The story ends with the woman and pet at the dog's grave with cherry blossom trees in full bloom as the camera slowly pans to the sky above.
Chang Yi's direction/scripting in every episode is faultless which makes the misery of the stories all the more powerful and heart - wrenching. Not a word of dialogue and none's needed .
The saddest film I've ever seen and I've been a film fan since the early 50's.
Film was shown in at least three Asian film festivals but even the prestige of Chang Yi and high quality of the production failed to garner a first place finish anywhere. Even Lost in the Rain which was shown in animated short film festivals did not win any awards. The general public did not care for the film thinking the animation was below par and the tragic subject matter not to its taste. ADL should have swept the awards maybe then it would have had a different future.
Feature apparently did not find a distributor so had only a limited theater release in Taiwan in April, 2019 . Don't know if it was even streamed anywhere .The small animation company that made the film, A - HHA studios, went out of business , just when is a mystery , and Chang Yi ,after having returned to film making after a twenty years absence, went back to the production of art glass and soon died of cancer.
The drain on time, effort and resources that went into the production was monumental for a - hha according to an inside report. The only full length film to come from the company.. Not a word on the net about the company's closure ,could have been due to the film's financial failure. Do not know who has the rights to the various incarnations of the project. It and Black Bum ( 2005 ) The Monk's Dog and another canine war short produced by Liuli Gongfang studios which later became a - hha studios are all lost films IMO.
I was initially shocked to find that every story is a disaster for the animal in focus. This is hardly entertainment, What the dogs encounter is danger, loneliness, cruelty,being misunderstood ,sickness, injury, neglect,anger,indifference,jealously,misery , disappointment and violence.
Truly this is a hard world and animals get the worst of it.
After some investigation I discovered a reference to a - hha studios incorporation of Buddhist teachings into the first Black Bum short which is namely learn something from bad experiences and move on ...a philosophy which I view as vile.
I suspect the reason the four stories have the endings they do is due to Chang Yi's idea to present the thought that the beneficent Buddha gives people a chance for happiness ...but here their actions fell short of what they should have been and consequently they and the animals suffered. The idea being do good in life and remember the good times. This is a mental construct that is alien to me.
The expression " A dog's life " means a bad life and that to me is the ironic real message of the title. There is a Buddhist, " get on with life" subtext to this film that fills me with disgust.
That being true it is a reality that a softer touch to the stories would have made the production much less significant and powerful.
The documentary Twelve Nights ( 2013 )showed things as they are for real stray dogs and was cause for a massive change in how the Taiwanese government treated unwanted animals. Many dogs died , mostly of shelter born illnesses,and the audience was able to get to know dozens of the animals but this animation hurts me even more as I can see the change from joy to horror in each of the canines in the animations. I can understand the emotions and thoughts of the dogs at every step of the stories. Still my favorite film for its ability to immerse me in the animals' plight.
The financial failure of the film causing the bankruptcy of a - hha studios and Yi Chang's demise on the heels of these disasters can be seen as a telling reflection on the absurdity of Buddhist thought. The film deals with " unsatisfactory enlightenment " and the impermanence of life. What that really means is eat dirt,.. see the bad times as learning opportunities and view heart breaking losses as just the way things are ...so buck up and be the best you can be in the future, be practical , don't daydream and most of all don't dwell on the past.
A Western priest might say you've got to play the hand you've been dealt. All of this is patent nonsense but ironically I know from the thousands of metaphysical experiences that have filled the second half of my life that there is a controlling force in the universe and it is not benevolent.
This project is so different from anything else of feature film length and so intimately focused on the relationship between living creatures that it should be revered , not thrown away. But that's people and that's life. More's the pity.
If anyone can get a copy of this film and/or the simply animated short Black Bum ( 2005 ) or The monk's Dog or another war/dog film ( name unknown ) made by the Liuli studio to me on disc I would compensate handsomely. Stephen DeMay 1061 Neck Lane Elizabeth New Jersey 07201.
